Published on: 29 October 2019

34 thousand more people in work

In the period of July–September 2019, the average number of employed people was 4,521 thousand, 34 thousand more than a year earlier. The employment rate of people aged 15–64 increased to 70.3%. The level of employment was higher among men than among women, and the rate of improvement was also higher for men.

In July–September 2019, compared to a year before:

The number of employed people increased by 0.8% to 4,521 thousand. The increase in the domestic primary labour market was 49 thousand and that for those working at local units abroad was 14 thousand, while the number of people declaring to work in public employment decreased by 29 thousand.

Number of employed people aged 15–74, July–September 2019

Denomination Number, thousand persons Change in headcounta)
thousand persons %
Work in the domestic primary labour market4,294.749.21.2
Consider themselves public workers107.9–28.7–21.0
Work at local units abroad118.413.813.1
Total4,521.034.20.8

a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.

A total of 4,443 thousand employed people were aged 15–64, and the employment rate of this age group grew by 0.7 percentage point to 70.3%. The number of the employed among men aged 15–64 increased by 17 thousand to 2,439 thousand people, and their employment rate rose by 0.8 percentage point to 77.4%. Regarding 15–64 year-old women, the number of the employed grew to 2,003 thousand, and their employment rate changed to 63.1%.

The number of employed people among young people aged 15–24 years was 295 thousand, and their employment rate 29.2%. In the ‘best working age’, i.e. the 25–54 age group, the number of employed people increased by 28 thousand to 3,450 thousand persons, and the employment rate was 84.4%. In the older, 55–64 age group, the number of the employed was 698 thousand people, and their employment rate grew by 2.0 percentage points to 56.9%.

The employment rate of people aged 20–64 – the coverage regarding the development of employment objectives defined in the Europe 2020 Strategy – grew by 0.8 percentage point to 75.4%. The European Union set a target of 75% by 2020; in Hungary, the employment rate of this age group is currently 83.2% for men and 67.8% for women.

Employment rates for 15-64 year-olds hardly changed in most regions. Budapest was characterised by the most favourable employment situation, where the employment rate was 74.3%. With 2.2 percentage points, the growth was most significant in Pest Region, where the employment rate was 72.1%. The proportion of the employed was the lowest in Southern Transdanubia, at 65.7%.

Employment among 15–64 year-olds by age group, July–September 2019

Age group, year-old Number Employment rate
thousand persons change, thousand personsa) % change, percentage pointa)
15–24294.8–9.329.2–0.5
25–543,449.928.184.40.3
55–64697.9–1.756.92.0
Total4,442.617.070.30.7
Of which: 20–644,410.415.975.40.8

a) Compared to the same period of the previous year.